Michael Janssen

In 1995 Michael Janssen opened his gallery in Cologne where it operated for twelve years and held over eighty exhibitions. From 2002-2006 Michael Janssen operated in collaboration with New York based Leo Koenig gallery in Los Angeles under the name of ‘The Happy Lion’ gallery in Chinatown/downtown LA. Some young LA artists had their first shows at The Happy Lion gallery such as Elliott Hundley and Matt Franks. The gallery also re-introduced works by mid career LA artists doing solo exhibitions with Meg Cranston, Thaddeus Strode, Monique van Genderen and Erik Parker. Christoph Steinmeyer and Gert & Uwe Tobias had their first solo shows in LA.

In 2007 the gallery moved to Berlin and closed the Cologne space in 2008. The gallery hosted a contemporary program that predominately features European, American and Southeast Asian artists.